Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts

Friday, February 24, 2017

Wild Thing Adaptations



Invite your students to investigate the structural adaptations and behavioral adaptations of the creatures from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are! In this lesson, students examine each Wild Thing’s physical characteristics, using the free printable below to help them identify the various attributes that make each Wild Thing unique. Then in a group, they design a new environment and their very own original Wild Things! 

Click here for the full project description / criteria. Click here for printables!

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Earthworm Study





Students explore worm adaptations and perform 5 lab experiments. Plus they get to create a worm hotel for the classroom!

Included (18 pages):
11 pdf presentation slides
Lab 1 Structural Adaptations: label / estimate / measure / describe attributes / review worm parts
Lab 2 Behavioral Adaptations: light / moisture / sound experimentation
Lab 3 Worm Observation: build a worm hotel instructions / observation sheet
Lab 4 Predator and Prey: draw worms in natural habitat (tunnels) / draw 3 predators / draw 2 worm food items
Lab 5 Straw Paper Work Trick: instructions for kids / kids draw their paper worm


Sunday, September 25, 2016

Botanical Expedition



Botanical Expedition - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ykieN_OP9xygBi9nSm4a5-qkVf3vgKEm/view?usp=sharing
Kids are given a project-based learning project where they go on a plant expedition to one of the biomes listed on the scientific fact cards (included in the pack). They discover a new plant species and record their findings by designing their own scientific fact sheets! 

After their individual project, they collaborate in a group and design life-size versions of real plants that exist around the world in different biomes (4 plants). This section is called plant superlatives because the plants have extreme attributes! Kids research interesting facts about the plant their group is assigned (after they create it to hang on the walls of your classroom)!

10 Biome Scientific Fact Cards / Mini-Posters
(labeled: blue (aquatic) and green (terrestrial)
1. Coral Reef
2. Wetlands
3. Desert
4. Deciduous Forest
5. Temperate Grasslands
6. Savanna
7. Taiga
8. Temperate Rainforest
9. Tropical Rainforest
10. Tundra


Sunday, April 12, 2015

Plant Scavenger Hunt



Take students outside for a plant scavenger hunt! Click here to download. Students tally how many vascular and nonvascular plants they find. Then they draw an example of each. Throughout their walk, they take photos of different plants that they believe represent 7 different types of seed dispersal. They check off different types of roots they come across based on their knowledge of plants. They draw an example of a stem they investigated. Then they draw 2 different leaves and describe the leaves' properties (color, size, texture).

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Seed Engineers


Students are challenged to construct a device to make a popcorn kernel disperse! They invented contraptions that helped a kernel burst (explode), travel by water or wind, attach to humans/animals or look tempting enough to get digested! Visit We Are Teachers to check out my post: Third Grade Seed Experimentation: Adapting a Popcorn Kernel!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Friday, November 14, 2014

Sap to Syrup: States of Matter and Heat

Explore what form of energy transforms maple sap into maple syrup, then maple candy!
Video Introduction: Sap in the Sugar Maple Tree
Book: Sugaring Time by Kathryn Lasky
Resources to explain the process: Word Playhouse
Maple Sugar Tree Identification sheet: Ohio Thoughts Blog

Recording sheets about Heat and the States of Matter: click here 
- Students label the states of matter for each stage of the maple syrup process. Then, they identify heat as being the form of energy that changes maple sap into syrup, then maple candy.
- Maple Taffy Experiment with snow, students record the results of the experiment.
- Checklist if students go on a maple sugaring field trip

Recipe for maple candy: All Recipes
Recipe for Maple Taffy for the Freezing Experiment - The Kitchn

Season: End of February / Beginning of March

Monday, April 29, 2013

Ecosystem in a Bottle

pill bug photo: teacher.vbsd / fish photo: toledonative365
Create a 1 to 3 tier ecosystem using soda bottles!

Featured above:
3 bottle construction - Scribbit: Motherhood in Alaska. Also check out Cranberry Corner.
Visit Annenberg Learner for activities to go along with your eco-column!

2 bottle construction - Legacy Owensboro

1 bottle - The Geo Exchange

Visit Bottle Biology for more ideas!
Check out NFBWA to see how to make a compost column!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Which Evaporates Faster?


3 containers:
A. soil with grass, weeds, or plants (fill with water to top of soil - don't drown plants)
B. soil - same amount of water as A
C. water

Weigh your containers. Then, place your containers in a sunny spot. Weigh each container once a day and examine any changes. Use a ruler and measure the water line along the side of each container. Use tape or a marker to show where the water line is and to compare day to day changes. Watch for at least one week. Visit Teach Engineering more details!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Plant Detective: Edible Plant Parts



Mission 1: Learning the basics
Edible plant parts can be super tricky! Kids sign on for an investigation mission and see if they can make an inference about what plant part different snacks are. First, give each child a sandwich baggie with one of each of the edible plant parts featured above (sunflower seed, grape tomato, broccoli, spinach, celery, carrot). Then, kids make an inference about each item based on their observations. They lay each item in the correct box on the sheet below. Afterwards, discuss how they decided where to place each item. Then, ask students if they can think of any other seeds, fruits, flowers, leaves, stems, and roots we eat.

photo credit: chef meg
Mission 2: Seed Investigation
1. As a class, create a list of all the seeds we eat. See how many edible seeds students can think of without any help. 
(Examples: pomegranate, corn, peas, peanuts - if no allergies, edamame, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.) 

2. Bring in a pomegranate, cut it open, and eat some seeds!








Mission 3: Earn the title of Master of Edible Plant Parts Detective - Kids explore on their own!
Set out real edible plant parts and tape labels on the table (Seed, Fruit, Flower, Leaf, Stem, Root). Kids sort the vegetables and categorize them under the correct label. Students check their work with the teacher and earn a badge to glue in their science notebook!
Here are a few examples:
Seed
See examples from seed investigation
Fruit
Apple, Tomato, Avocado, Cucumber (make it tricky!)
Flower
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Artichoke
Leaf
Spinach, Lettuce, Cabbage
Stem
Celery, AsparagusRhubarb, Bamboo Shoot, Potato
Root
Carrot, Radish, Beet, Turnip, Rutabaga, Malanga, Celeriac

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Leaf Investigator





Kids find a leaf, investigate it, then paste it in the square! (save to desktop to print)
Visit Education.com to find out how to figure out a tree's age by its circumference.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Pine Cone Experiment



Demonstrate how seeds adapt by conducting the pine cone experiment with your class! Drop a ripe pinecone into a bowl of water. Leave it submerged in water, and be amazed as the pinecone starts to close up. What's happening?! The pine cone is adapting to its environment! It closes up when wet ("protecting the seeds inside the cone"). Once dry, it opens back up! Click here for the full explanation. Check out a time lapse video of the experiment here. To find out more about pine cones - are they living or dead - click here!

pine cone via public domain

Sunday, August 26, 2012

What Can You Do With A Leaf?!



Leaf Surface Area - Practice non-standard measuring with leaves, great way to introduce the concept of area. Visit Kindergarten Lessons for more details and measuring ideas! PBS has a fun activity that integrates science and math. Kids shine a flashlight on a leaf and trace its shadow on grid paper to find the area of a leaf!

Leaf Symmetry - Check out the cool art project Beautiful Ideas did!

Science - Is a Green Leaf Really Green? Click here to find out! Also, check out Exploring Life Community's photosynthesis experiment!
Create a Leaf Skeleton - ehow

Descriptive Writing - "Meet My Leaf, " free printable from Scholastic
Leaf Descriptions - Set up a leaf station in your classroom. Kids work in pairs. One child describes a leaf. The other child has to find the correct leaf. This activity is a great way for kids to learn the importance of detail (adjectives) and comprehension (listening skills).

Leaf Hunt, Tally, Graph, Fractions - Classic activity that's always popular with young students. Go on a leaf hunt outside around the school yard. Have kids tally their leaves. Then, as a class, graph your findings! Afterwards, have kids write the fraction for each color found. Younger kids could also practice their patterning skills with colored leaves.




Leaf Art - Who doesn't like leaf rubbings! If kids color nicely, they could show leaf transformations for a geometry unit. Have them use one leaf and make their rubbings in different colors. Leaf texture via Jimmie Homeschool Mom - flickr commons



Sunday, August 19, 2012

What's Living In Your Area?

photo credit: treehouse 1977 - flickr cc

E-nature Zip Guides - Discover the various plants and animals that reside in your area! You can also search endangered or poisonous species. Earth's Endangered is another endangered species search engine, easy for kids to use, that lists animals in their region.

EOL - has lots of biodiversity experiments for kids to conduct in their own backyard! Their tools section includes fun ways to implement technology into science lessons. Kids can also create customized field guides, build / explore ecosystems with an interactive tool, and create their own bingo games.

The Butterfly Site lists butterflies found in each US state.

Once you discover the different plants, animals, and insects in your area, see if you can find them!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Cactus Hotel: Life Science Unit



Cactus Hotel, by Brenda Z. Guiberson, is an awesome book that shows kids the life cycle of the saguaro cactus, as well as biodiversity that encompasses the desert ecosystem in the North American Sonoran desert. The book focuses on all the different species that live inside of the saguaro cactus (while it's living and after it dies). It's a fantastic piece of literature to integrate in a Life Science Unit.

SCIENCE
Experiment 1: Demonstrate how cacti survive in the desert
materials: 4 cacti, water, and your science journal (to record your findings)
Water each cacti differently: "One as directed, one every day (kept saturated), and one with ten times more water than needed, and the final one no water at all. Cut them open after one week to compare and analyze the fibers inside." - Hinkle, 3rd grade teacher

Experiment 2: The Water Storers - Cacti Adaptations
Recreate how a cactus absorbs water by using a sponge, toothpicks, a flashlight, and clay. Visit Ocean Oasis for the full experiment!
TECHNOLOGY
Encyclopedia of Life - create a field guide to organize desert species! Kids can collaborate on their field guides for a project.
Skype with kids in Arizona about the desert and the saguaro.
Use Google Earth to check out the desert terrain!
WRITING
How do cacti survive in the desert?
How do animals stay cool in the desert? Talk about animal adaptations.
Biodiversity: Choose an animal from the desert for a report. Kids can use EOL's field guide for this assignment. How does their animal interact with different organisms in the desert ecosystem? Where does the animal make it's home (various animals live inside of the saguaro, hence the name "Cactus Hotel).
MATH
Measure out pieces of string the "exact lengths of the saguaro cactus at various ages."  - Hinkle. Then, compare the kids height to the saguaro. Afterwards, graph your results. What age of the cactus equaled the majority of the students' height?

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Pea Pods - Similarities and Differences



Do all pea pods contain the same number of peas? The pea pod experiment fits right into Common Core's Life Science: Behavior, Growth, and Changes. This demonstration shows kids that even though pea pods come from the same plant, they're not all alike.

ESTIMATE - Lay out pea pods, all varying in size, and have kids make a prediction. Do long, thin pea pods contain the most peas or do short, fatter ones? Will pea pods of the same length have the same amount of peas? 

MEASURE - Measure the pods and sort them by size.

TALLY - Have kids tally how many peas are in different pods. Make sure they draw a picture or write a description of the pod near their tally marks for each pod, accuracy is important!

What were your findings? Did similar pods contain the same number of peas? Could you predict which pods would contain the most peas just by looking at the size and shape? Does size and shape even play a role in how many peas are in a pod?

Conclusion: Plants of the same species aren't always the same. 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Celery With A Twist

Can you change the flavor of celery? Everyone knows the old experiment with celery, food coloring, and water to show kids how plants transport water through xylems. But, what would happen if we dissolved sugar in water? Could a celery stalk suck it up? Dissolve 2 tbsp in 1/4 cup of warm water and stir. Let the sugar dissolve completely. In another glass, just pour 1/4 cup water. In a third glass, demonstrate the classic celery / food coloring (1/4 cup water, 1/2 tsp food coloring). Finally, in another glass pour 1/4 cup of fruit punch, juice, or soda (any beverage of your choice). Optional: Spike's Science says to add sand before adding your liquid to keep your celery positioned. Then, wash your celery after the experiment to remove the sand. Now, cut  an inch off the bottom of each of your celery stalks. Leave the leafy part on top. Then, add one stalk to each of your liquids.

When the food coloring has travelled up the celery, you know the experiment is ready! If you added sand, clean your celery with water. Cut the celery up and taste it (not the colored celery, just your flavored and plain)! What happened? The celery with sugar is now sweet! You changed the flavor, amazing! Experiment with other flavors.

Note: To speed up the experiment, use a blow dryer pointed down on top of the celery's leaves. Visit Science on the Shelves for the scientific explanation. 

Friday, March 2, 2012

Tabletop Biosphere

A tabletop biosphere is "a fun demonstration of the ecological cycles."  Kids get to see how plants and organisms (biotic components) work together, along with abiotic components in an ecosystem. Visit CDN Makezine for the full tutorial and science behind the project!




Thursday, March 1, 2012

Is a Green Leaf Really GREEN?


Is a green leaf really green?! "Leaves have a green pigment called chlorophyll that they use to capture sunlight. But did you know that leaves also have pigments of other colors to capture colors of light that chlorophyll misses?"  How many colors are in a green leaf?"- TLC

To find out how many colors are in a green leaf, visit TLC and Herbarium for full tutorials that explain two different ways to extract the color from a leaf!

For a step by step tutorial, check out MSI Chicago!

For more photosynthesis fun, visit the Kitchen Pantry Scientist!